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Local businesswoman Clare Marriott came to us to revamp the identity, look, feel and website for her 1-year-old decluttering business - her previous agency's work having generated neither the results nor business she'd hoped for. Ever keen to apply our consultative approach to local businesses, we agreed to step in.

The Approach

Our recommendation was a clean sweep - everything, including her business' name - had to change in order to connect properly with customers and give it a fighting chance of success.

We took a fresh look at her business and knew we had to make this both personal, and productised. We surveyed the nation's registered organisers and declutterers from the apdo's website to get an overview of the industry - and the competition - and felt there was a clear gap in the market for a smartly designed, engaging, modern brand.

We originated a bright, positive-feeling, approachable brand identity using script font (plus aptly named Clarendon) and icons to give personality plus a modern edge… And we renamed her as Clare Declutters - a simple, no-nonsense approach, for clarity.

Identity in place, we rolled it out into a user-friendly, easy to navigate website built on WordPress. We image-sourced and copywrote the site, giving a nice balance of text and photography. It was crucial to define Clare's services as clearly as possible, in an organised, product-like way to help connect directly with people in a muddle.

We role-played who her potential customers might be, as well as the situations they might find themselves in, and devised packages tailored to six core situations, including: bereavement, moving home, office administration, general muddle - even coining 'clear with a conscience'… taking a (potentially profitable) recycling tact instead of a trip to the tip! We even helped Clare pitch her prices.

The result was a clean, fresh, comprehensive brand and website, and with some lovely business cards and flyers designed and printed, Clare was fully equipped to get the business back on track. We also helped Clare start blogging, and set up her social media channels - Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest to widen and strengthen her digital networks.

We're particularly pleased with the site - Clare Declutters is a great example of how polished branding and design can really help a business get ahead. If you're looking for a fresh start, and an organised way to present your product or service to new customers… Clarity begins at home: call Bungalow!

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Case History

Founded in 2000, talkhealth partnership began as talkeczema and grew into a suite of related condition-specific sites providing free support and information on a wide range of health conditions. A vanguard platform for patients and carers looking for the latest information on specific chronic health conditions, the sites presented a valuable resource of NHS-syndicated content alongside blogs, forums and product- and service-rich directories.

Expanding so quickly, but without a platform to properly support its growth, talkhealth required a future-proofed solution to enable them to move forward and expand sustainably.

Call in the Consultants

We began by redesigning and restructuring talkhealth into a single site, with specific health condition hubs and forums nested within. All in one place, on a single domain, easier to navigate and better cross-linked to enrich the visitor experience.

A rebrand followed, introducing a softer palette of more soothing tones, and modernising the original speech-bubble-inspired logo. We devised tag lines; a friendlier, more approachable tone of voice, and carefully selected typefaces and stock imagery... a 'personality' to better connect and engage with the site's wide and diverse demographic.

8 Health Hubs, 18 Forums, 11 Online Clinics... And Still Growing!

We rolled out our site-plan to cover all the key areas of the new website, with interfaces designed for blogging, forums, product & service directories, members' area, online clinics, surveys, freebies as well as the healthcare information itself. The talkhealth partnership site thus evolved into a fully-fledged online community. It is now more welcoming, content rich, and much more interactive too, through the introduction of a bloggers' network, more user-friendly forums, members' stories, plus NHS-sponsored online clinics offering participants direct access to advice from medical experts – a groundbreaking service.

Strategies for advertising and sponsorship opportunities were designed into the site, along with persuasive marketing materials for pitching to leading pharmaceutical companies... as well as keystone charities, and celebrities too, for high profile support. (Check out the 20-page marketing booklet / media pack fully designed and copywritten by us.) The roll-out also included social media set-up across twitter, facebook and pinterest; plus a smart stationery suite and modular e-newsletter design, keeping everything fresh and on-brand.

The Prognosis is Good!

Much time and thought was invested into the initial consultancy phases and site restructure – time well spent in future-proofing the online business – with our involvement taking some six months to complete. To date, the site is live though still in the hands of the developer and there remains much content to be rolled out over the coming months.

We're delighted with the results and proud to have been involved in a project of this size – and significance. It's an invaluable resource: it empowers, informs, and makes available a wealth of information from patients' own experiences, literally enabling everybody to 'talk health'.

It's early days but the response so far has been resoundingly positive – talkhealth is fast becoming one of the UK's leading online health communities... Why not check it out for yourself and join in the conversations!

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We love property here at Bungalow and were very excited when estate agency entrepreneur Darren Wickes came to us on the strength of our work in this industry. Setting up a new estate agency business, particularly in London, required a complete package and he commissioned us to create a sharp identity, office signage, interior design, for sale & let board designs, stationery, property brochure designs, press adverts & templates, marketing campaign, flyer design, visuals for digital window displays, posters, mini liveries... and of course a website design which we copywrote from top to bottom.

The first matter to address was the name. 'Redhot Property' didn't resonate with his brief and vision for the business and we tried to coax him away from it. Change wasn't to be, particularly as he'd also invested in the key domain rhp.co.uk at not-insignificant cost. We didn't feel it sent the right messages to the customer and so worked to give the identity a particularly soft-edged whilst thoroughly modern treatment to offset any harshness that might be inferred. It not only met with approval from Darren, but also garnered the attention and interest from other agents on his patch.

During the process, rhp's state of the art office came under fire as it was situated in one of the streets most badly hit by the London riots and it was decided to regroup, refocus, retreat from the high street and concentrate on brand and service.

Now as a fixed-fee internet-based agent, we designed a revised site and built it in-house. The new site, based on a WordPress engine showcased his brand, the key offers to sellers and landlords, and his level of service. Much was repurposed and updated from the original design, and with strong imagery, simple navigation, intuitive flow, fresh copywriting and our trademark lifestyle hooks, the site was designed, built and launched on time and to budget.

One key saving both short and long term was to host his property listings solely on Rightmove, rather than design, build and manage a parallel system on his site. Why duplicate what the UK's leading property site already does so well? It's our experience that buyers and tenants head straight to the major portals to find a property – not to individual agents' websites. We believe that an agent's website should focus on presenting their services to vendors and landlords: showcasing their brand, and quality of service, marketing and materials – these being the key USPs to differentiate them from their competitors.

The new website went live without any amends: the look, feel, design, imagery, and copywriting all approved without change. Darren is thrilled to have his agency vision working for him, and to be doing business with a website that doesn't just sell his service… it really hits home.

Note: We've sadly been made aware that rhp are no longer trading due to personal circumstances.

Here at Bungalow, brand comes first – it's your most valuable asset in business. Whether you're an estate agency small or large, if you'd like to make best use of your marketing budget to grow, promote and strengthen your brand across web, print, and social media channels, contact us here at Bungalow Industries and make the right move for your agency.

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Always great to catch up with our old pal and holistic therapist Tim Norris, we go way back – first working with Tim in 2003 in fact, he was our very first client here at Bungalow Industries!

Since then Tim has made the move to Sydney, Australia, settled down, has a family of his own, and has gone on to develop a large corporate wellness program My5 (with a little Bungalow help in the brand identity department).

With My5 now established, Tim needed our help once again to unleash his new business!

Spotting a gap in the market, Tim has taken the lead and combined his holistic therapies with his other passion in life… his dogs! It was no surprise to hear that Tim is now very much in demand as a canine Myofunctional Therapist and with business booming and fast gaining the attention of the local Sydney press, he urgently needed a brand identity for his business 'Both Ends of the Lead'. Our ears pricked up!

Knowing it would be a walk in the park for us here at Bungalow, Tim sent over the copy and let us get to work. Such a unique enterprise required a considered approach: friendly, engaging, but with a feeling of trust and authority. Built on Wordpress, Tim wanted to be able to update the website himself with all of the events he attends, the canine resources he wants to share, and dates of his regular clinics too. We're also encouraging him to get to grips with social media, and have introduced him to Twitter with a flurry of initial tweets. The result is a bright, fun brand and website that really hits his target market. With just enough doggy cues, great photography and catchy lingo, the website looks a treat!

Tim is already a regular at dog shows in the Sydney area demonstrating his approach and talking to potential clients. With this in mind, we wanted to kit him out… literally! With branded clothing, A-boards, flyers and appointment cards, Tim is certainly going to stand out as 'being best in show'.

It's great to be able to help chums out, and we wish Tim all the best with his latest venture (not that he'll need it with his agility, discipline and pedigree).

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A big thank you to the Bungalow Boys! You have done such a fantastic job with my site and all the promotional material – I have had some really great comments about the site already. Your fame is spreading boys, now you really are big down under!!

Our relocation now behind us, tucked up snug and warm in Kent, we received a winter warmer of a project from entrepreneur and regular client, Damien Knight.

With the overwhelming success of every venture Damien undertakes, and fuelled by the demand for his gas services, Damien swiftly commissioned us to design not one, but two new brand identities and websites for him. We thoroughly enjoy working with Damien, he's clear about his outcomes and objectives, decisions are made quickly, our designs are implemented promptly by his long standing developers – and he's always delighted with the results. This commission was no exception.

The first to be undertaken was 'London Boiler Centre': a simple, friendly and informative website targeting Londoners in search of a new boiler; the second: a sister site offering boiler repairs. Whilst the design work is complete for both, Damien is initially targeting the new boiler market, and the build of the repair site is on the back-burner for the time being.

We were mindful that the new sites should work well alongside Damien's other venture which supplies gas and electricity testing and certification to the property industry: London Property Inspections. We used our Bungalow trademark approach of clear, engaging graphics, strong imagery, plays on words, simple language, and most of all: a friendly and approachable feel.

Yet again the site has been a roaring success, and we are in talks with Damien about moving forward with a pilot for another of his business ideas. Damien is one bright spark!

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After Bungalow helped property-services entrepreneur Damien Knight breathe life into his PurpleGroup brand and website, demand went through the roof. And not just from other property professionals, but from domestic customers too who were clearly engaged by his brand and its core messages. So much so, in fact, that Damien came straight back to Bungalow to launch another business! Following our advice on a clear, transparent name for the company, London Property Inspections was born and Bungalow set about the brand identity and website design.

In fairness, Damien was testing the water somewhat with this venture - he knew the demand was there, but was unsure as to where his focus should lie - trade or consumer. So, given timescale, brief and budget in measures equally tight, Bungalow set to.

The resultant site has hit the spot. Conversion rates (#visits with purchase ÷ #visits without purchase) are phenomenal (greater than 50%) and LPI is fast becoming the provider of choice for property services in and around London. In fact, a Trade-only division has since been set up and both sites are constantly being expanded and updated to accommodate the unwavering demand.

It's always exciting - and rewarding too - when a one-off job leads on to a more involved and extensive project. That's exactly what happened when entrepreneur and property pro Damien Knight came to Bungalow to liven up the website of his company PurpleGroup. Whilst offering a fantastic service - HIPs, EPCs, and all the necessary gas and electricity servicing & certification for landlords - all at industry beating prices, he felt his existing website wasn't fully engaging with his customers.

Using our property know-how and gaining a fuller understanding of the customer base Damien wanted to target, we got to work expanding his existing brand identity to create a slideshow of banners for his homepage using strong visuals and catchy hooks.

They met with such approval that we were commissioned to create a livery for their fleet of vans, set up a Twitter page (starting them off following over 600 industry players - and potential clients), an email marketing campaign, provide consultancy on his website's usability and layout... and finally, to bring all this together in a smart, sharp corporate booklet showcasing their great ethos, services and resources. Damien's as thrilled as we are with it and we set it up as an e-brochure so he can impress new contacts as easily and quickly as sending a tweet or an email.

The growth of PurpleGroup's brand and collateral - matching Damien's vision with Bungalow's creativity and insight - has resulted in a new confidence and professionalism for his business - along with a strategic partnership that's all set to grow from strength to strength.